On July 23, 1946, just before her diagnosis of stomach cancer and the surgery that ended her life, Gertrude Stein wrote her will. She left what little money she had and her priceless collection of paintings to her lover of decades, Alice B. Toklas.
Though acquired for a pittance at the turn of the century, Stein’s modernist collection had become valuable — the loaning out of it alone should have supported Toklas. But the late writer’s relatives wanted the art — all of it. While Toklas was away at a spa in Italy in 1961, they took the precious works, leaving her penniless and alone to stare at the outlines on the walls.
New York artist Hilary Harkness read about Toklas’ misfortune in a series of New Yorker articles by veteran reporter Janet Malcolm. They roiled her; the unequivocal — and often unabashed — painter had been undergoing her own spousal dilemma and she took to the studio once again. Out of both emotion and action, came her latest series: “New Paintings,” opening this week at the renowned Mary Boone gallery.
Full Story from The Huffington Post
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